20th Century-Fox Dynamo (July 8, 1939)

10 NEW DYNAMO Always—At Your Service! Published In The United States Every Week In The Interest Of Sales Promotion By The Distribution Department Of 20TH CENTURY-FOX FILM CORPORATION SIDNEY R. KENT, President HERMAN WOBBER, General Manager of Distribution Roger Ferri Editor SALIS0R\ALS T HIS is the most important issue of New Dynamo since the conven- tion special. It is that because it is packed with sales information intended to make your task easier—and to help you continue to get good contracts. What is more, in the Studio Special supplement of this publication, you are given definite information and new slants on what the studio will turn out during the coming season. You are getting this information when you can best use it. Therefore, we urge you to go through the K-7 product survey with the same care that marked your reading of the convention issue’s product lineup. It is all new—and just what you asked us to rush to you when we got out here to the studio. • O UR prayers have been answered. It’s in the form of “Second Fiddle.” Here is the best musical romance of its kind. Irving Berlin has done a grand job, for his songs as presented in this Zanuck hit are surefire. Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie are excellent—and their love scenes the best in which either have participated since “Thin Ice.” Mary Healy comes up to the highest expectations—and how she can put over numbers. This Tuesday the negative was to be shipped to New York and it will not be long before you will be seeing it. Screen it for exhibitors. We have a gold mine. This will be one of the biggest grossing pictures of the season—and it behooves each of us to capital- ize it to the limit. Make sure you get the right time—and extended time, for this one will command it. Its premiere is scheduled for the Roxy in New York Friday. Here’s one that will pack theatres every- where. Thanks, Mr. Zanuck; it’s a gold mine. • G ETTING out this issue of New Dynamo and preparing the first issue of the Seventh Annual S. R. Kent Drive publication is some- thing for which we are thankful. Shuttling between the Ambassador and our studio kept Messrs. Wobber and Levy and your writer on their toes—and up until 1 and 2 o’clock in the morning, for almost an entire week. Which gives you an idea of the hard work and the long hours Zanuck and his associates are putting in at the studio to turn out the greatest product ever mapped out for a new season—and it is going to be a brand of box office entertainment you’ll be most proud to offer your customers. There was too much GOOD news to pass on to you to pass up an issue of New Dynamo, so when Messrs. Wobber and Levy were tucked in bed, we were able to resume our journalistic duties. And so now we expect to devote 24 straight hours to some fancy snoring. But what we started out to say was: we are most thank- ful to the studio, from Mr. Zanuck down the line, for being able to get out this edition, for the co-operation extended us was characteristi- cally of inestimable value. Without it, you would not have got this issue. • W HAT makes coming out to the studio a genuine pleasure, and what makes listening to Mr. Zanuck outline and explain his plans interesting, is that he speaks as no other production head ever has spoken. He speaks from the distribution angle. He analyzes like a showman. And when he gives you the facts and tells you of his coming productions, he not only inspires you, but he leaves no doubt about the fact that he is as well acquainted with what every release has done and is doing, in any territory, here or abroad, as any member of the Domestic or Overseas sales organization. He thinks in terms of box office values—and never overlooks an opportunity to make each sales- man’s job a much easier one. And for having such a considerate genius at the helm of our creative organization we can consider ourselves most fortunate. • P RE-RELEASES, when they are merely a matter of convenience, constitute, invariably, just so much money tossed out of the window when they are not elaborately and vigorously exploited. That many branch managers have ascertained to be fact time and again this season. This company has spent a record sum in nationally advertis- ing its major pictures—and will continue to overlook no means to effectively sell, in advance, all specials. Pre-releases make it impos- sible for the attraction to capitalize such efforts. Invariably, pre- releases (there may be a few, but very few, exceptions) are not pro- ductive of returns the picture would have earned had it cashed in on the ads that appear in the national magazines and elsewhere. This company likes to accommodate exhibitors, but let us not cripple the possibilities of any attraction. Let’s release when the time is ripe! I AST week our President, Mr. Kent, returned to New York from Rio L. de Janeiro and from Trinidad, where he addressed Latin American sales heads. And we all join in extending him a hearty welcome back home! He helped write what should be the brightest chapter in the history of American motion picture distribution in South and Central America. Mr. Kent not only won greater prestige for this company’s wares, but for the American industry as a whole. W HEN this issue goes to press, your Drive leader, M. A. Levy, will just about be started on his first swing around the branches. Later this week you will get your first issue of the Drive publication. And we can promise you now that the contents of that first issue will be of vital concern to every member of the sales organization. And your Drive Leader knows that when he comes to your exchange, you will have some good news for him, for he will have the most informative and helpful data to pass on to you! Meantime, let all of us work NOW to make certain that this Drive gets off to a spectacular over-quota start. And this is the time to dig in and BUILD! • M R. WOBBER was immensely pleased with the list of local Drive leaders selected by branch managers or voted by employees at Domestic branches. Many of the gentlemen so designated have been hoping for years for the exceptional opportunity the appointment brings to them. We will have much more to tell you anent the part these gentlemen will play in the Drive. Meantime, congratulations to these gentlemen. There is no doubt that territorial competition will be keener than in any past Drive. Get behind your branch Drive leader. He is going to need every ounce of co-operation and material support you can give. • D O you know that there are 11 gentlemen who will have celebrated 25 years of employment with this corporation between the first of January and the first of July? Or will you be as surprised as we were when we uncovered this fact? Congratulations to these gentlemen and proud can be the company that can boast so many such employees. May your next 25 years see the materialization of every ambition and hope you entertained in the first quarter of a century of your associa- tion with this organization. More power to you—and we say that from the bottom of our heart. TIMELY OBSERVATIONS r\ENVER—This particular column is being written in one of the healthiest cities in the world. And healthy, indeed, have been the prospects we found at,Jim Morrison’s Denver exchange. Like, we know, every other exchange, Denver has been gearing itself for a fast start for not only the Kent Drive, but the new season as well. It is all very well to talk about the Drive, but every single week is important —and it is especially important that the K-7 season get off to an aus- picious start. • A DRIVE leader is helpless without the men and women in the field *' and at the Home Office. His is a post that can be likened to the talker who urged patriots to buy Liberty bonds during the World War. His talk, his enthusiasm would have meant nothing without the pur- chase of bonds by citizens. So it is with a Drive leader. The Drive he has been chosen to lead and he himself cannot hope to be any kind of a success unless the real workers, those who dig out the dollars, say it with increased revenue. • W HILE Drive Leader Levy is now making his first swing around the branches, right now, Division Managers Sussman, Kupper and Gehring have been mobilizing their forces for the Big Push and the new season for months. That becomes increasingly evident as we proceed on this trip. Every branch is better prepared than ever in the past for this new season and coming Drive. Reaction to Levy’s meet- ings has been superb at every branch. We know it will be just as enthusiastic at branches we are to visit. • COR a Drive leader this honorary position is an education. Levy has 1 been a veteran in matters of territorial distribution. He has made a successful district manager and there is no doubt now that the Presi- dent’s prize will go to him. But, Levy’s perspective no longer can be from the district angle. He must think in terms of national returns, he must view the job ahead from the national angle. And Levy realizes that as well as anyone at the Home Office. He is learning fast. He is learnihg about the exhibition setup in every territory. He is learning first-hand that his associates in all other territories are the best in the business. • W E have told Levy he is going to be prouder than ever of his asso- ciates, that these ladies and gentlemen are going to work out the most successful Drive in history, that their efforts, their material results will reflect to his credit—that he and his future are safe in the hands of Messrs. Wobber, Kupper, Sussman, Gehring and every man and woman, boy and girl in the distribution organization in the field and at the Home Office. And a grateful fellow is this Drive leader. As your spokesman during the Drive, you will be proud of the man you selected. • W ORD from the alert Division Managers indicates they view the coming year with greater enthusiasm and with prospects admit- tedly brighter than in any past season. This is significantly important, for these gentlemen, working with their district and branch managers, in closing focal circuit deals, report exhibitors are showing an in- creasing preference for the product Zanuck has lined up for next season. • rN ENVER Salesmen Rennie and Paulson are doing a fine job and say they will maintain an over-quota weekly score throughout the Drive period. “Second Fiddle” has this and all other territories we have visited understandably in an enthusiastic mood, the like of which we have not found at this time of the year in the past. “Second Fiddle” gets going in most important cities next week-end, but what a whirl- wind business it is doing in New York, according to daily wires we have been receiving. • T HAT Northwest trio—Herndon Edmond of Seattle, Charles Powers of Portland and Charlie Walker of Salt Lake City—thrive on com- petition. Each asked about the other two. They’re going to be out gunning for each other in the coming Drive. Seattle was the sole 1938 Drive prize winner among the three—and that livewire office, in new quarters, will be in there to repeat. But, it will find Portland and Salt Lake City much, much stronger opposition, judging from what Messrs. Powers and Walker and their salesmen and bookers told and showed the writer. — ■ ■ Live i SHOP TALK ■ Timely =— M EMO to Mr. Landaiche and the New Orleans personnel: You’re going not only to be pleased, but genuinely cheer the singing and performance of your own Mary Healy in her first screen effort, Irving Berlin’s “Sec- ond Fiddle.” And when we saw Mary at the studio the other day, she requested we convey to the many persons in the sales organ- ization her sincere thanks for the good wishes and interest you ex- pressed and showed in your nu- merous letters to her. Good girlj Mary! • N O changes of any importance in the standing of U. S. branches on revenue averaged per News print. Here is how they rated at the end of last week: 1 Los Angeles 2 Detroit 3 Buffalo 4 New Haven 5 Seattle 6 Philadelphia 7 Frisco 8 Indianapolis 9 Cleveland 10 Chicago 11 Cincinnati 12 Pittsburgh 13 Washington 14 New York 15 Boston 16 Kansas 17 Albany 18 Dallas 19 Milwaukee 20 St. Louis 21 Denver 22 Minneapolis 23 Atlanta 24 Salt Lake 25 Portland 26 Des Moines 27 Memphis 28 Oklahoma 29 Charlotte 30 Omaha 31 New Orleans W ELL sir, this is the week that Clyde Eckhardt starts cele- brating his 25th year in the film industry. Congratulations, Clyde. And we speak for every man and woman in the organization. And what a celebration Eckhardt will have. Exhibitors in his territory will see to that, for they will ten- der him not only a great banquet, but give him support in the form of a volume of playtime that will see July setting new records for delivery on the part of the Chi- cago exchange. • T HE itinerary for the first Drive swing around the branches has just been mailed to all district and branch managers. We would have let you have this informa- tion earlier, but that was impos- sible. There was so much that had to be done here at the studio that not until this week-end were we able to set the dates or was Drive Leader Levy able to ascer- tain just when he could leave Hollywood. But what an interest- ing and valuable stay it has been! • L ETTERS galore have poured into Mr. Wobber’s and the divi- sion managers’ offices, containing exhibitor requests for pre-releases on “Second Fiddle.” These Mr. Wobber has ruled out. Here is the picture of the year—we term it that because it is not only great mass entertainment and a box office surefire, but because there could not have been a better time than the present to release a pro- duction of its type and quality. And how unfair we would be to allow any exhibitor to rush this onto the screens without the proper advance publicity. • I N the Studio Special you are given the K-7 releases straight through New Year’s Week, which, incidentally, brings Irving Ber- lin’s “Say It With Music.” The fact that publication of such a re- lease schedule is made possible reflects the efficiency of our stu- dio and how closely it co-operates with the distribution end. Analyze those releases carefully 9 W ELL, we’ll have to apply the finishing touch to this col- umn, for our Omaha-bound train leaves in a few minutes. And Levy is rarin’ to go. Tomorrow morn- ing he will be back in home terri- tory. He has been looking forward to the coming week-end ever since we left Los Angeles, for he’ll be home. Omaha tomorrow, Des Moines the next day and Minne- apolis Saturday. And then on to Milwaukee, Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Memphis New Orleans, Atlanta, Charlotte Washington, Philadelphia, Pitts burgh, Cincinnati, Indianapolis Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, To ronto, Montreal, Albany, Boston New Haven and home for us, good old New York.